The DeafVibe Foundation National Tour

The RV

In the last 9 months since the DeafNation World Expo in Las Vegas DeafVibe has provided services to clients (now students) in 15 states outside of Washington.  But what about the rest of the country? 

Our fearless leader Brian Bearden, who is always brainstorming creative ways to make DeaVibe a household name  started talking about an RV tour shortly after he returned from Vegas.  He would buy an RV, wrap it with vinyl  print a bunch more t-shirts and select a crew to tour the country and visit as many states as possible.  That was 6 months ago, and today, thanks to his direction and he hard work of his team, the DeafVibe RV began its first trek through the country.  

Robin Shannon, DeafVibe's Associate Director, Shawn Shannon, and Tyler Kerger will be navigating to Deaf schools, Deaf community centers, and DeafNation Expos for the next 53 days.  Not only is the goal to inform and inspire  DeafVibe clients in as many states as possible, but they are also giving graduating a seniors a chance to win one of three education scholarships.  They are scheduled to travel through 43 states, from  the Pacific Northwest as far east as New York and most of the states in between.  Check out The 2013 National Tour Schedule to see if they are stopping near you.

Lost in Translation

Riverside has proven to be uneventful so far.  Were slowly moving into the new office. Brian, Hugo, and I spent today shopping for office supplies.  Ikea is the same here as it is in Portland, with the exception of no self check out counters, which I thought was pretty odd.

There is a cool Taco place right across from our hotel: Tio's Tacos.  We haven't ate there yet (that doesn't mean Brian hasn't had his fill of tacos), but I walk Hugo by there everyday and have to stop and admire the art.  The entire place is covered with junk-made sculptures. Its actually very beautiful and I notice something new every time we walk by, from bicycles paved into the ground to body-less gnome heads smiling at you as you enter the parking lot.  The landscaping is pretty amazing too.

Here's a link to more pictures and a history of Tio's.

One thing I am definitely not used to is everything is in Spanish.  Our new office is right next to the California School for the Deaf, and Brian and I see hands moving every where we go here.  There is no shortage of people using ASL, which for us is cool, but normal.  But what is outside of my normal is interpreting ASL - Spoken English for Brian to someone  that is interpreting English - Spanish for someone else.  Of course the four of us sent and received our respective messages to each other, but I can't help but wonder how much of it was lost and how much is lost in translation in day-to-day communication when an interpreter is involved, or isn't.  Last night we went to a taco place that had a Taco Tuesday special.  I told the lady, whose first language is Spanish, that I'm vegetarian, and she looked at me like I am from another planet.  Is that because she thinks vegetarians are weird?  Maybe. Or was it because she had no idea what a vegetarian is an fed me beans with lard in it anyway.  I'm hoping she just thinks I'm weird.    

Well, our fearless leader, Brian is snoring on the bed.  I'm going to see if  I can't wake him to go get some late dinner.  I'm sure he will want tacos...again.

First Day Recap

Were off to a good start. Don't think we forgot anything important. Hugo is chilling in the back seat with his favorite toy, Bonnie and a pig ear.

Before we left this morning Brian made some homemade guacamole and I blended some blueberry raspberry juice for the road.

We're nervous and excited about opening our second office.  We just learned that we secured an office at CODIE (Center of Deafness - Inland Empire) in Riverside!

Check out their website at codie.org

We're Going on Tour

It has been over a year since DeafVibe began bridging the gap to equal access.  Our first client just graduated.  The Vancouver office is running smoothly and we are seeing new clients every day.  Brian, our fearless leader, has spent countless hours telling everyone he knows about our organization.  As a result, he realized that the need for our services reach way beyond the Pacific Northwest. So we are hitting the road!

In the next five months we will not only be touring with the DeafNation Deaf Expo, but we are also opening offices in Riverside, CA, Seattle, WA,  and Chicago, IL.

Today we are making last minute preperations to leave for California in the morning.  First we are cruising down to Riverside to open a second DeafVibe office and then we will shoot over to Las Vegas to take part in the World Deaf Expo.  That's right, we're going to Vegas, baby!

We have a lot of work ahead of us in the next four months, but what a great way to get started!  Sunshine, beaches, pools and the Las Vegas Strip.  AND, we get to provide a whole new group of clients with opportunities for education success. 

And now our adventure begins!